With Victory over Hills, Wayne Valley Flag Football Takes Division Title

WAYNE, NJ - Mist covered the turf field at Wayne Hills High School while steady rain on a chilly day made for difficult conditions for the fledgling flag football teams of Wayne Valley and Wayne Hills high schools. But football players are tough and any rivalry game between the two schools means both teams raise their level of play and refuse to lose.

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE FREE TAPINTO.NET NEWSLETTER

Wayne Valley Tries to Keep Warm in the Steady Rain - Photo by Roxeanne Gribbin

This is the third season for Valley’s flag football team and only the second for Wayne Hills. Both teams’ inaugural seasons went very well, with the Patriots and Indians making deep playoff runs. Last year, Hills was the dominant team, but the script has switched and Valley’s 12-0 win over Hills on Sunday earned the undefeated Indians the Patriot Division title and sets them up for great seeding in the upcoming playoffs.

This was the Indians’ fourth shutout in seven games, the team only allowing three touchdowns (and only one extra point) – a total of 19 points scored against them in those seven games.

Valley’s Head Coach Andrew Imperatore was asked where his team’s defense ranks in the league.

DOWNLOAD THE FREE TAPINTO APP FOR MORE LOCAL NEWS. AVAILABLE IN THE APPLE STORE AND THE GOOGLE PLAY STORE .

“I’d like to hope we’re first,” he said with a smile. “We hang our hat on our defense. We tell the girls that we have to be aggressive on D. If they don’t score, we win games; that’s the nature of the game.”

He talked about the athleticism the Valley girls display on defense, mentioning two new seniors who joined the team this year, in Abby Russo at linebacker, and the TAPinto Wayne Athlete of the Month for April, Ava Maher at safety. And a, freshman Avery Voinov, who also starts at safety.

“They really hold it down for us, the newcomers and the players from last year who know how to play defense, said Imperatore.

Wayne Valley Captain Giannamarie “G” Greenhalgh - Photo by Alana LoRé

Captain for the Valley team, Giannamarie “G” Greenhalgh told TAPinto that this game had been “circled” on their calendar.

“Every Wayne Hills game, it doesn't matter how good your team is or how good their team is, it's always a competitive game,” she said. “That was the first thing we said in the huddle: ‘Don't look at their record, or their scores against other teams,’ because no matter what, in the Wayne Hills game, the energy is different. The way everyone plays is different, and it always shows. You go in with high energy because you want to beat Hills.”

The Patriots came into this game with two wins and three losses, compared to the undefeated Valley team, who is now 6-0-1. Despite being a young team, with a freshman at quarterback, the Hills’ mindset was no different than their opponents, and the first half was a battle that ended scoreless. Twice in the first half, Valley drove down the field, threatening to score, and twice, the Hills defense bent, but did not break, intercepting an attempted pass to halt one of those deep drives.

Valley Junior Emma Sheldon Pulls the Flag on Hills' Freshman Gabriella Arcell - Photo by Alana LoRé

Hills’ coaches, John Renaldo and Brian Borchard had their team prepared to face one of the best teams in the league in Wayne Valley, and their game plan worked in the first half. But near the end of that half, the Patriots lost one of their best defenders in linebacker Charah Sysounthone (she also plays running back on offense) who went down with a leg injury that will likely sideline her for the rest of the season.

According to Borchard, when Sysounthone went down, their defensive strategy had to change.

“We had a new person in there at linebacker, who normally plays safety,” he said. “We had a new cornerback in because we had to move the other corner to safety.”

Valley scored on their first drive of the second half on a three-yard run by quarterback Delilah Morelli and scored again near the end of that half, with the same 3-yard run by Morelli. That was it for the scoring for the game, which ended 12-0.

Borchard described that last score: “The second touchdown they got late in the fourth quarter, we had them behind the line of scrimmage and Eva [Russo] had one flag and Jailyn [James] had the other flag; they both pulled, and their hands slid right off, and [Morelli] scored.”

On the other side of the field, the weather didn't change the Indians’ strategy of establishing the run game first.

Valley's Delilah Morelli with the Ball - Photo by Alana LoRé

“We had a good game plan going into it, in trying to establish a run game,” said Coach Imperatore. “That’s one of our strengths for this year is having a great run game, with our quarterback Delilah - who had two rushing touchdowns in the game, and also with Sarah Paul who is a senior captain and second-year player at running back. So, establishing that running game was definitely something that we wanted to do, and always want to do.”

The Indians finished with 97 yards gained on the ground with 54 yards on 14 runs from Morelli, Paul adding 41 yards on 5 carries and Maher running for two yards on one attempt.

Morelli threw for 107 passing yards, most of those coming after each catch, because weather conditions made throwing long passes nearly impossible.

When the final whistle blew at the end of the game, the Valley girls celebrated their rivalry win and their division championship.

“It was really exciting,” said G, “Especially because it was that game [against Hills] that gave us the division. And that was a tough game with the weather and all that.”

For Hills, overall, Borchard was proud of the way his young team played.

“[Wayne Valley] is a mature team,” said Borchard. “It’s their third season with all those girls playing together, and it's clicking - and it should. That’s why we're so proud of the way our girls played, because Valley is a fantastic team and we played them tough.”

For the Indians, there is one more regular season game on their schedule, and two more games for the Patriots. Then the playoffs start, and Valley, who is one of the top teams in the league this year, should have great seeding.

TAPinto will keep you up to date with how these tough football players do in the playoffs.

-----

Roxanne Gribbin Contributed to this Article.

For more local news, visit TAPinto.net